Ailing Child of the Shield Hero
by E2Moto
Summary: Post canon story heavily based on the ongoing light novels. After saving Melromarc from the waves, Naofumi and Raphtalia left the world and settled together peacefully in Naofumi's world whom they eventually got married, and raised a family together. One night, their 6 year old daughter also named Rifana Iwatani gets sick, and the young couple takes care of her.


**Author's Note: **I've been reading fanfics for years, and this is the first time I've written and released one. I never thought I would be writing one someday. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Aneko Yusagi's The Rising of the Shield Hero, or anything that is contained in the series.

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It is the month of November, and the cold climate of winter is approaching Japan. It is the month when people will begin contracting sickness with children being the most vulnerable, and when schools begin receiving calls from parents of students to inform their teachers that their sick children will have to stay home for a time to recover. One child who is unfortunately caught by this season of sickness is Rifana Iwatani, the only child of Naofumi and Raphtalia who once fought together in different worlds, and saved them from a catastrophe known as the Waves of Calamity before settling in this world to live peacefully and raise a family together.

A few hours after Rifana was born, Raphtalia decided to name her after her late best friend who was very kind and had big dreams, and hoped that one day, their child would grow up to be like her. Naofumi did not have any objections for her name, understanding to an extent on how much Raphtalia's late friend meant a lot for her, and agreed with his wife to have their child carry her name.

Rifana is currently six years old, and is already growing to be a spitting image of her mother while having the green eyes of her father. She already began her education that year, and had a great start by demonstrating her ability as a fast learner and have great problem solving skills at a young age. Rifana has been maintaining a good track record in her school, passing every test given to her every month, and is expected to do more as she grows and moves up through the grueling education system of Japan.

Unfortunately, such sickness will have to put a brief stop to her work, since three days ago, Rifana caught a cold in the morning when Raphtalia woke her up to eat breakfast before taking her to school, and learned that her daughter was not feeling well after checking that her forehead was hot. Naofumi called her school in that same morning before leaving for work, and informed her teacher that their child will not be able to attend school for some time until she recovers.

*Cough cough.

Hearing a faint sound from a distance, Naofumi slowly opened his eyes with his wife Raphtalia still soundly asleep with her arms around his waist and her face almost buried in his chest under their warm blanket. Naofumi slowly looked around in their still dark bedroom, unsure of what noise caused him to wake up, and the only thing he can clearly see is their digital alarm clock which is displayed as 2:00 AM.

Just as when Naofumi was about to slowly close his eyes and drift back to sleep, he heard a noise again, and this time, it was louder and clear enough for him to recognize that it was their daughter coughing in her room and her coughs are becoming more frequent. Alarmed about the situation, he began to wake his wife who is still asleep and cuddled beside him.

"Raphtalia," Naofumi whispered.

"Raphtalia," He whispered again in a slightly louder tone, and gently started shaking her shoulder.

"Mm," Raphtalia moaned and her eyes remained closed.

"Raphtalia, Rifana is coughing right now, and we need to help her," Naofumi whisperedly explained as Raphtalia finally started slowly opening her eyes.

Though still bleary, Raphtalia's eyes widened in her wake as soon as she heard Rifana start making more intense coughs and both immediately got up from their bed, and rushed together to Rifana's room.

As soon as they opened the door and turned the lights on, the young couple saw Rifana sitting up from her bed, leaning forward and coughing with her hands covering her mouth. Rifana's face and teary eyes were slightly red, and was visibly sweating. Raphtalia worriedly rushed to her side with Naofumi following behind her, and she began to gently stroke Rifana's back to try easing her coughs.

"Rifana, dear. Are you OK?" Raphtalia worriedly asked as she continued rubbing her back.

"Momma, my throat is so itchy, and I couldn't stop it," Rifana painfully replied between her dry coughs and wheezes.

"It's OK, dear. It's OK," Raphtalia hushed her as she embraced her daughter to comfort her.

"I'll go ahead, and get some medicine. I'll be back," Naofumi said, and hurried to the kitchen to get a bottle of cough syrup, a small plastic measuring cup, and a glass of water.

Naofumi hurriedly walked back to Rifana's room and as he pours a small amount of syrup in a small cup, he noticed Rifana's eyes slightly widened as she grimly stared at the cup.

"I know you don't like these, but you'll have to drink it so you'll feel better. Just bear with this for now, OK? You can do it," Naofumi said with an encouraging smile before he handed the cup to Rifana.

"OK..," Rifana frowningly replied.

"Just take your time before you drink it, and once you do, make sure to quickly swallow it," Raphtalia added.

Rifana held her cup, and stared at it for a few seconds before she drank it. However, with an impulse of her throat rejecting it rather than her dislike of the syrup's bitter taste, Rifana suddenly turned to her side after struggling to swallow it for a few seconds.

"Blegh!" Rifana messily spat the syrup on the floor, and began coughing again. Naofumi quickly offered her a drink of water to ease her coughs, and Rifana quickly drank.

"You have to understand that good medicine will always taste bitter, dear," Raphtalia sternly said, but also sympathetically.

"I'm sorry..Momma," Rifana remorsefully apologized, looking down.

"It's OK. We can try again," Raphtalia replied as she stroked her back.

Naofumi slowly poured another small amount into the cup, and gave it to Rifana.

"Alright, here. This time, try not to think about the taste when you drink it," Naofumi said.

"OK..," Rifana replied.

Rifana looked at the cup again, and now with more determination, she quickly drank the cup. Just as before she can finally swallow the syrup after a few seconds of struggling while she closed her eyes, her distaste finally gave in and she spat the syrup.

"Ah!" Raphtalia jumped in shock from her child's sudden outburst followed with intense coughing and Naofumi offered her a drink of water again and wiped her mouth.

"I tried, Papa. I'm really sorry!" Rifana sobbingly apologized.

Seeing Rifana on the verge of crying, Naofumi knew he had to do something. Something he has not done for a long time…

"It's OK, and I'm not mad so don't give up," Naofumi said while smiling, and gently patted Rifana on the shoulder.

"You two wait here for a bit, and I'll be back again in a few minutes," Naofumi said as he patted Rifana's head, and walked back to the kitchen with a bottle of cough syrup and the measuring cup in hand.

'_I haven't done this for a long time, but this seems to be the only way. I have to use a bit of magic that I can afford to use here from this blasted shield to lessen the bitter taste a bit.'_

Naofumi looked at his right wristband with a green jewel carved in it. A form which his holy shield took in its dormant form after he returned to his home world.

'_Rifana was close to having it, so maybe toning it down a bit should work this time, plus a little bit of that should not lessen the effectiveness of this medicine. Jeez, she's really like her mother when it comes to this…'_

Naofumi smiled, and poured another small amount of syrup into the cup. Looking back to make sure they will not see him, Naofumi began to cast a very small amount of magic while touching the cup with his right index finger to tune the taste of the medicine down, and the green jewel in his ring began to faintly glow before he can see glowing magic flow into the cup before it fades.

'_That should do it,' _Naofumi thought, and he looked back after he heard Rifana coughing in her room again.

He returned to Rifana's room, and gave her the filled cup again.

"Try this again, and I'm sure you'll get it this time. You got this," Naofumi encouraged the distraught Rifana as he patted her head.

"OK..this time," Rifana looked at her cup again, but with much more resolute than the last. She raised the cup to her lips, and now with less struggle, she finally drank and swallowed it.

"You finally did it," Raphtalia giggled with compliment as she embraces Rifana again, and kissed her on the side of her head.

Naofumi sat down with Rifana, and patted her head once more.

"See? You just going to have a little bit of grit," Naofumi encouraged with a smile.

"Yeah.." Rifana replied, finally letting out a smile.

"Well, it's time to go back to sleep, dear," Raphtalia said, "and your medicine will make you sleepy soon."

"OK," Rifana gleefully replied as she began to lay down, and settled back on her bed. Raphtalia helped her by setting her blanket up, and began stroking her head.

The couple decided to spend a few minutes with Raphtalia continuously stroking Rifana's head until she fell asleep while Naofumi cleaned up the mess their daughter made in her room. Once Rifana is asleep, Naofumi spoke.

"Felt a little nostalgic, right?" Naofumi teasingly asked his wife in a whispered tone. Raphtalia closed her eyes, smiling and replied.

"You really spoil her a bit sometimes, dear," Raphtalia calmly said before she stroked Rifana's head once more before she quietly stood up, and began walking out of the room.

Naofumi smiled and faintly chuckled, and then began following his wife out of the room. Naofumi stopped at the doorway and looked back to see their daughter soundly asleep before he turned the lights off, and quietly closed the door.

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**Author's Endnote**: This may be my first fic, but I want to write a big post canon fic following this depending on how the Shield Hero LNs end since I have a few no-go's in writing it, mainly if the light novel ends the same way the web novel did, and I also want a few more things to be confirmed by canon before I start making headcanons based on them. This one-shot can become a prelude for my planned main story, and I may write a few more as my practice runs before it begins. It also may be possible that should the light novel take too long to finish, I may decide to compromise, and headcanon the rest for my fic.

I would like to tell you the synopsis of this planned fic I have. This story takes place 17 years later after the light novel ends, and it starts when Rifana is already 15 years old in her father's world and is living a normal life as a high school student and a kendo practitioner. She is not aware of her parents being once heroes, and eventually gets isekai'ed to her mother's world for unknown reasons where her adventure begins.


End file.
